309: John Schu’s LOUDER THAN HUNGER - Our March 2026 Book Club Pick
- unabridgedpod
- 1 day ago
- 29 min read
What happens when a book captures both the hardest parts of life and the possibility of hope? In episode 309, we’re discussing John Schu’s Louder Than Hunger (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), our March 2026 Book Club pick. Before we dive into this powerful middle-grade novel in verse, we share our Bookish Check-in: Ashley talks about Annie Hartnett’s The Road to Tender Hearts (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), and Jen shares her thoughts on Maggie Su’s Blob: A Love Story (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm).
In our discussion of Louder Than Hunger, we talk about the emotional power of Schu’s storytelling, the way the verse form brings readers into Jake’s experience, and how the novel offers such an important portrayal of eating disorders, mental health, and healing. We also recommend our pairings, including Yara Zgheib’s The Girls at 17 Swann Street (Bookshop.org) and Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper (Vol 3 Bookshop.org | Vol 4 Bookshop.org).
We wrap up with a couple of our latest Unabridged favorites. We’d love to hear what you thought of Louder Than Hunger and hope you’ll join us for the conversation.
Bookish Check-in
Our March 2026 Book Club Pick
Our Pairings
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Ashley - Merlin Bird ID app
Jen - North of North
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Full Transcript for Episode
[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Unabridged Podcast. I'm Ashley,
[00:00:05] Jen: And this is Jen.
[00:00:06] Ashley: Join us for bookish episodes and check out our website, unabridgedpod.com, where you can find lots of new bookish content to grow your TBR.
[00:00:13] Jen: Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about online book discussions and upcoming events. Find us on Patreon for extra Unabridged content. Join us on Instagram and Facebook @unabridgedpod and message us there or see our website to get plugged into the Unabridged community. You want opinions about books? We've got 'em.
[00:00:35] Hi everyone,e and welcome to Unabridged, and todaywe are talking about John Schu's Louder Than Hunger for our March 2026 Book Club. This is episode 309. Before we get started, we're going to do our book check-in. Ashley, what are you reading?
[00:00:50] Ashley: One of the books I'm reading is Annie Hartnett's, The Road to Tender Hearts. I have been waiting to read this one for a long time. I've had it on my Libby hold list, and it just came in. But I think I really know nothing about the book. But Kate Baer, who was my, perhap,,s my most favorite poet, really loves this book, o,,k and it has come up many times in things that she has shared.
[00:01:11] And so because of that, I've been interested in reading it. I have not read much at all yet. And I don't, as I said, I don't really know much about it except that I really wanted to read it. I believe it involves a road trip. However, the part that I am on, there's no road trip yet. The opening scene is at a retirement community, and it starts with a cat.
[00:01:30] The people in the community have discovered over a series of months and perhaps years that the cat can predict the next person in the community to die. And so whether it's gonna be a week or a couple of months or whatever, the cat will basically go and spend lots of time with that person.
[00:01:49] And then when that person passes, the cat moves on to another person, and it opens with. The doctor who works there and the cat keep sleeping on his keyboard in his office, and is spending a lot of time in his office, so he kept the cat in the home even after they had made this discovery. And of course, the residents are terrified of the cat, so they are like, please get rid of the cat.
[00:02:14] Please get rid of the cat. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Well, then the cat starts spending time in his office, and he keeps trying to put the cat in other places, and the cat keeps coming back to the office, and he's only in his fifties, I mean, of course, it feels ominous, and he's like, I'm in good health.
[00:02:27] Like, everything's fine. He even goes to the doctor to try to get a checkup, and ultimately, we see him taking the cat to a shelter and letting them take the cat away from the whole situation, so he doesn't have to keep confronting what seems to be the inevitable. That happens. And then we meet PJ, who doesn't live in the retirement community, but he's in the same town.
[00:02:49] And we learned some things about him and the fact that he is now living alone. He did have a family. There is some tragedy in his past, but he also won the lottery, and he won like 1.5 million or something. And so local people are aware that he won money and also that he has this kind of tragic past, and I'm just now coming up to what I think is the precipitating event, which will unfold the rest of the story.
[00:03:18] But I am loving it. Like, the tone is just fascinating. And the characters, again, I think everybody's been minor until I've met PJ, but you know, just well crafted, fun, and also kind of playing with the darker parts of life, and I am curious to see where it goes.
[00:03:36] And again, that is Annie Hartnett's The Road to Tender Hearts, and I'm excited to see what happens.
[00:03:42] Jen: Yeah, that is on my list. I have heard such good things. I read Hartnett's book, Unlikely Animals, and really loved that it had the same, it sounds like, very whimsical, perhaps slightly magical, and also animal-focused, which is interesting. Yeah, so this one is definitely something I wanna get to soon.
[00:04:00] Ashley: What about you, Jen? What are you reading?
[00:04:02] Jen: I am reading Maggie Su's, Blob: A Love Story, for the Tournament of Books. And as the title suggests, this is, I would say, an unusual book. So the main character is Vi, and Vi is working in a hotel, at the reception desk kind of thing. She dropped out of college; she just didn't feel like she belonged there.
[00:04:28] She can never find her place there. She lives in the Midwest and is biracial; her dad is Taiwanese, and her mother is white, and that has very much informed her identity. So she shows up for work every day. She's not really happy. She sort of feels unmoored. And her coworker, the coworker with whom she works most, is Rachel.
[00:04:52] And Rachel wants to be an actress. She is blonde and always perfectly put together, manicured and perky, and says the right thing to everybody. And Vi has some resentment toward Rachel. Rachel is also relentless in trying to becomeVi'si friend, and Vi thinks that it is because she has identified Vi as a challenge that she wants to overcome because she is so goal-oriented.
[00:05:22] And so one day Rachel invites Vi to go to a bar, and Vi begrudgingly agrees to go. So as she's approaching the bar, she's sort of waiting outside. She sees this random blob of stuff on the pavement by the garbage dump, by the dumpster, and it kind of looks like it has eyes. It looks a little strange. She calls this
[00:05:52] other guy over to look at it, and he's like, you know, huh? Yeah. That's weird. She goes home, and she keeps thinking about it. And so eventually she goes back, and she gets the blob, and she brings it to her house, and she's sitting on the couch beside the blob, eating something. Cereal, I think. And she notices that some of the cereal that she dropped is gone.
[00:06:14] So she's pretty confident that the blob is eating. It does over several days, gets bigger, and then she's yelling at the TV and trying to get things together, and she makes an offhanded comment about needing a hand, and the blob forms itself into a functioning hand. So she realizes that the blob understands her, that the blob can do things, and eventually she shows the blob images of actors in Hollywood, and the blob forms itself into a very handsome-looking man.
[00:06:55] So that's sort of where I am. I mean, Vi is lonely. She was dumped by her boyfriend, so I don't know. She is perhaps thinking of the blob as a love interest. But anyway, we'll see what happens. So it is a very unique story. I've really enjoyed the reading experience, like I think it's written very well, but it is definitely quirky.
[00:07:19] So that is Maggie Su's Blob: A Love Story.
[00:07:23] Ashley: Wow, Jen. I have not heard of that one. And how interesting.
[00:07:31] Jen: Yeah.
[00:07:33] Ashley: Okay.
[00:07:33] Jen: will say I finished it. I loved it. It was so good.
[00:07:37] Ashley: Oh my gosh. Really?
[00:07:38] Jen: Yeah. It's so good. yeah. I read this one post in my newsletter thing ranting about how bad the Tournament of books were, and the last four, thankfully, were better.
[00:07:48] Ashley: Okay. Okay.
[00:07:50] Jen: This one was great.
[00:07:51] It was really good. So, yeah.
[00:07:52] Ashley: That is fascinating
[00:07:54] Jen: It’s super short. But it's, I mean, it's bizarre, but it's really good. So, yeah.
[00:07:57] Ashley: It reminds me a little bit. Is it at all like Nnedi Okorafor's books?
[00:08:02] Jen: No, because I think those feel more serious sci-fi.
[00:08:06] Ashley: They're definitely set. I was gonna say, they're definitely set in a sci-fi setting, whereas this sounds like it's like magical realism. Like, there's like a, the world is real.
[00:08:15] Jen: Except this weird blob. Yeah. And the tone of this is definitely much more whimsical, quirky, and humorous.
[00:08:23] Ashley: Okay. Okay.
[00:08:24] That's like the only time I've read stuff that's like that way, like where there's like technically things that, yeah.
[00:08:31] Jen: Alright, well, we are going to move on to our book club. Pick Louder Than Hunger by John Schu. So first, I'm going to read the publisher's synopsis. Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing bingo and name that tune, and reading mysteries and comics allowed by his teachers.
[00:08:50] He also likes avoiding people his own age and the cruelty of mirrors and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books, the weird one, the Outsider, and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrinking himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake punish himself before he truly disappears? A fictionalized account of the author's experiences and emotions living in residential treatment facilities as a young teen with an eating disorder louder than hunger is a triumph of raw honesty with a deeply personal afterward. For context, this much-anticipated verse novel is a powerful model for muffling the destructive voices inside, managing and articulating pain, and embracing self-acceptance, support, and love.
[00:09:34] right. Well, we are going to start with our overall impressions. Ashley, what did you think of " Louder Than Hunger "?
[00:09:39] Ashley: I loved it. I thought it was really powerful and really well crafted. I also found it really heartbreaking, and I think part of that is because I know John Schu, like I think, what I know of him is just such, he's just such an amazing person who has done these really amazing things for the literary community.
[00:10:00] He's a librarian. I think I became particularly aware of him and the efforts he made during the pandemic. I think it is when he started really showing up for me. So, you know, I don't know him personally. I don't know him even that well, as far as his social media presence or his presence online.
[00:10:18] But the things I have seen have just always been so kind, so generous, and so warm. And so I think like there was a part of that that just broke my heart for him as a kid. And again, as it says in the synopsis, this is a fictional account. There is a very powerful author's note at the end where he does his best to, you know, directly say his own experiences, how they are different and the same as Jake's.
[00:10:43] and so, you know, I think that. While obviously, again, I don't know him as a person, I think that did shape my reading, just to know, like to see this person who just seems so vibrant and so alive, and to know that he had been through some of what Jake experiences in the book, and how hard and painful that is.
[00:11:00] and also I listened to this on audio and I thought that the audio narration was so well done. In some ways, I don't know because Ihaven'tt read the print yet. I'd be interested to compare, but I think it intensified the experience because the narrator is so good at demonstrating the voice that we will, I'm sure you talk about as being so contrasting to Jake as a narrator.
[00:11:27] Like hearing the cruelty of that voice and seeing how Jake is just powerless to stand against it in certain parts, I think, really intensified the experience. So I absolutely loved it. I also found it, just to be so raw, and I think that's important. I think those books need to be out there, but it was like, as a sensitive reader, I was like, Ooh, man.
[00:11:45] What about you, Jen? What was your overall impression?
[00:11:47] Jen: So that's interesting to hear about the audio. So I read the print, and I also loved it. I found it to be, again, very powerful. I thought it made such great use of the verse form as a way to emphasize Jake's experiences. I would be really interested to listen because that voice, for me, knowing that it was.
[00:12:12] Jake's criticism of himself. I did not differentiate, like in my head,
[00:12:19] between that voice and Jake's own voice. So that is interesting. Yeah, I think that would make it quite powerful. Even on the page, I think Schu does such a great job of helping us to see how Jake is feeling throughout, and because it's so much from his point of view. You really see his resistance to the treatment and where that comes from, and his own reflection on the moments and the events where things turned for him in middle school and changed the way he felt about himself because of the way people around him were treating him. And so that was heartbreaking, but I think ultimately so powerful.
[00:12:59] I think this could be such a powerful. reading experience for someone who is either struggling with these things or knows someone who is, because we know that Schu's experience was in some ways reflected in Jake's, and, you know, that how realistic it is. Yeah. I really thought it was so well done and so important.
[00:13:20] I thought it was really great. All right, well, we're gonna talk about one thing that worked for us. Ashley, what do you wanna focus on?
[00:13:29] Ashley: I think something that really stood out to me is how Schu shows us what's going on inside of Jake and how that portrayal knocks down a lot of the misconceptions I think people have about mental health in general, but especially specifically about eating disorders because I think that there is a lot of both explicit and implied attitudes that are sort of like just eat.
[00:13:57] And I think that what I love in this book is that he does so powerfully show how unbelievably complicated that can be for someone. And how they get to a space where that task feels absolutely impossible. And so I really appreciate that. And then what you talked about, Jen, like I think seeing how Jake had several things going on before the bullying, but once he gets to middle school and starts to have the bullying, that is more and more horrific.
[00:14:30] Layered on top of some of these other underlying and untreated issues that he has, that pairing all, you know, comes together in this really awful way to result in him suddenly being in such a difficult situation. And I also thought, you know, the role of gender is really explored in the book in the sense of everyone else and his part of the Whispering Pines facility as a female.
[00:15:01] Also, I think that we see that he goes untreated perhaps for much longer because no one is thinking that could be his issue. And then even when they start to think something might be going on, they are very dismissive of the possibility that there's any issue. And
[00:15:17] It takes Mrs. Burns, who hardly knows him, you know, I mean, she knows him of course, but like it takes someone from the outside feeling his hand and thinking, I must do something about this, to realize how difficult the situation is. And so I think, you know, we see that piece as well, like the need for critical care is dismissed for such a long period of time.
[00:15:39] Yeah. So I think that piece specifically really worked for me, of just showing how people get to that point, because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about that in society. What about you, Jen?
[00:15:50] Jen: I think I wanna focus on the adults in his life. I think one of the most heartbreaking parts of the book was the fact that his grandmother is dying. While he is going through this and that she had been his person, that he loves his parents, and they clearly love him, but he doesn't ever feel understood by them in the way he feels that his grandmother understands him.
[00:16:16] And so then he's making progress. But of course, once she dies and once he knows that she's dying, his grief becomes so wrapped up in his mental health. I just thought that all really worked. And then, so to see his parents step into that role, and they are clearly not as comfortable.
[00:16:39] bonding with Jake over the things that his grandmother bonded with him over, the musicals, and just the love of the arts. That's not something his parents really feel in the same way, but they make such an effort to meet Jake where he is and to try to nurture that. I found the part when he goes out with his father particularly moving. And he asks his dad about his work, and his dad lights up, and Jake realizes that he's the same as Jake. It's just about different things, and that window into Jake understanding the adults around him and that they are also people just like he is, I thought, was so beautiful. I mean, it was so sad also because he had felt so supported in some ways by his grandmother.
[00:17:25] And yet, of course, that's not enough because she can't be there every moment. And so just to be able to find sources of strength in other relationships. I was thinking mostly of the adults, but then also with Kelly, and I think she just writes so beautifully about the way he had closed himself off, that the only real connection he felt was with his grandmother.
[00:17:43] And when sadly he has to open that up, being able to find sources of strength in other people is really powerful. I also just, my heart broke for his parents because I think, as you said, I think this is not a typical diagnosis that we talk about for young men, and I can only imagine back then, because it is set in the past, that it was less talked about. And so as parents, they had to feel so helpless to know how to help their child, and just to be able to admit that this was a problem that required institutionalization, just the fact that that part happens off the page. But I was vividly imagining, because I'm an adult, because I have kids, what it took to make the decisions that they made for their child found all of that to be really strong.
[00:18:34] Ashley: Yeah. I felt like showing his resistance to the treatment, his denial of the fact that he had a problem, and his unwillingness to partake in anything to help heal. I mean, I think that showing all that, again, is hard. I think it's hard for an author to convey that in a way that makes it make sense for the readers.
[00:18:55] But then we see. Because of the way that everything is woven together. I think that Schu really shows us and helps kind of convince us that, like, oh, this is why this is such a complex problem, and these are the reasons that it does require so much help to get to a point where his body can heal.
[00:19:16] Jen: All right. Well, we are each going to share a quotation. Ashley, which one did you choose?
[00:19:22] Ashley: I went with "All lies. Lies to avoid bullying, lies to avoid teasing and tormenting verbal stones. Stones that helped create the voice stones that gave the voice permission to speak." And I think that, I mean, there were so many things I could have quoted, but I think this is one of the times as I've been saying like that, I feel like Schu really shows us inside of Jake's unraveling and the way that all of the things are mounting up for him to start to listen to the story that his mind is creating and lean into that
[00:19:59] voice that is so toxic for him, and I think part of what I like about that quote and about the way that things unfold in the book is that we can see that progression from, again, things that might have been going on for younger Jake, but we're not so acute. But then, when you add all these layers. Then all of a sudden it becomes a situation where, I mean, he's dying.
[00:20:27] He's dying. I mean, I think like he's actually, you know, his body is, like, where we see him having to be in the wheelchair, and we see him getting the feeding tube. I mean, I think those things are so heartbreaking. But again, they show how powerful that mental struggle is, that it is overriding our instincts to survive.
[00:20:44] And I think, I mean, yeah, that's just one of the many times that I felt like it just showed us that transition from not in great shape to extreme crisis.
What about you, Jen? Go ahead.
[00:20:57] Jen: I was gonna say, I feel like my quotation relates a lot to yours. I'm sort of wishing I'd picked a more hopeful one. So maybe we can take a moment to talk about the end of the book. But I chose,
[00:21:06] "I had too much time alone with the voice. I welcomed it in. I told it to take a seat. It calmed me at first. It made me feel strong. It made me feel in control. It felt like what I wanted most, a best friend. It said I would be the best at not eating."
[00:21:23] I felt like that was so powerful becauseJakee is not a very angry person, but the voice is a way for him to manifest his anger. And I thought about how good it feels when you are upset or angry to share that with a friend and have them reflect that anger to you. It sort of affirms what you're feeling, and for him, because he didn't have a friend.
[00:21:49] The voice was the one reflecting that anger and making him feel the illusion of power, even though it was not actually acting to change any of the things that were making Jake feel, the things that he was feeling, So I really thought that was an interesting moment that it sort of clicked for me. that was a way for him to feel the anger that he was so justified in feeling and to give him that illusion of control. So yeah, and I just wanted to say, because I do feel like we've picked these moments that epitomize Jake's struggle, but it's so beautiful when he does make friends and when he does realize that there is hope for him, like when he wants to join the poetry club When he sees that there can be a way forward that he can belong somewhere. And I just didn't wanna leave it that we had only talked about the sad parts of the book and the tragic parts of the book, 'cause they are certainly there. But the fact that there's hopefulness that we know Schu was able to live in his own life.
[00:22:55] Ashley: Yes, I loved als, the part where he met the boy in the bookstore, and they were quoting the poetry to each other because I think absolutely the role that community and belonging can have on our mental health and our ability to find a way through hard mental struggles is like. So important. And so, yes, like,
[00:23:19] with Kella for him to think like, oh, someone might like me for who I am. And I think that goes back to the quote that I chose about the lies that he found himself in, like all of the lies.
[00:23:32] Because he felt, aside from his grandmother, no one. Liked who he was. And so then it was lies to protect, lies to present, like all the masking that was happening that led up to the voice creation, and then the voice really. And then, as you said, Jen, I think that role of control, that's like when everything is spiraling out of control.
[00:23:52] Around you, then, what does that mean? And I think like even his mom and her pervasive sadness, and I think, like you said, Jen, like I think that, like the historical context is relevant, that like there are still lots of people who struggle with mental health issues that don't get help, but certainly that was much more common in the 19 hundreds, even in the late 19 hundreds.
[00:24:13] That like nobody was talking about mental health, or that if people were seeing a therapist. It felt to me like that was like, oh, like, oh, something like they've had a mental breakdown. I mean, there wasn't just like, oh, I'm having to struggle with this thing, and I need some help. So just like I would go to the doctor for an illness, I'm gonna go to the doctor and get some tips about how to handle this thing I'm having a hard time with.
[00:24:34] Like, that did not exist. That was not part of a lot of people's cultural context. I think where you were talking about the different adults and their roles and what led him, it's like we're not blaming his parents because it's also not their fault.
[00:24:49] The things that they were struggling with or the ways they couldn't relate to him. And yet those things did affect, like what was happening to him. So then when he has Kella, when he meets the boy in the bookstore, when he has the moment with his dad, all of a sudden he has these like glimpses into what we hear from the author's note comes to be true for John Schu that once you find these people who connect with you in a real way, that does a lot for healing.
[00:25:16] And so while the things do not go away and you're not cured, you can manage a lot of those things with the right supports and the right community and the right. Like having fun, like him finding things that he loved and had fun doing.
[00:25:31] Jen: Absolutely. All right. Well, we are each going to recommend a pairing. Ashley, what book would you recommend?
[00:25:36] Ashley: As we were talking, I was thinking, I didn't think to pair John Green's Turtles All The Way Down, but that one comes to my mind as we're talking. So if you're looking for something that is also a young adult that explores. Anxiety, OCD, is that right, Jen? I haven't read it in a while. Um, so it does not deal explicitly with eating disorders, but I do think it does a really great job of showing what it can feel like to be navigating mental illness, and what that can feel like for a teen.
[00:26:07] So that has crossed my mind, but the one that I wanted to share for a pairing is Yara Zgheib's The Girls at 17 Swann Street. This one is focused on Anna, and Anna is older. She is 26 when she goes into residential treatment for anorexia. The thing I think, compliments Schu's is the way that it shows.
[00:26:27] how hard it is for people to overcome this particular mental illness and how impactful it is on the body, and the way that it impacts the body then impacts the ability to combat the illness. Like I think we see that with, they tell him and Whispering Pines, like. You know, your brain cannot function well enough to help you heal.
[00:26:51]ase we've gotta do these things because we have to get your brain back to this like, base level functioning so that then you can help yourself basically. And we see that with her as well. I also felt like, in the story. What Zgheib does that I think is really powerful is integrate a lot of statistics into the text itself, and I think she does it in a way that invites us to better understand eating disorders.
[00:27:17] Again, I just think they are an area of mental illness awareness that I think we really need to expand our understanding as a culture. because so often there are a lot of misunderstandings about. Why it happens, how to help, like all of that stuff. And so I really like that piece.
[00:27:35] and I also felt like another similarity is the way that even though it's clear that Anna's having a problem, everyone around her is avoiding the problem instead of helping her. And so I think in both of the texts, there is an awareness for the reader of the urgency of addressing issues instead of standing by for the sake of
[00:27:59] avoiding confrontation, basically. I mean, I think in both situations there's just a lot of avoidance. And the avoidance is like, we hope it'll get better. We hope that if we ignore it, it's not gonna be an issue. We think it might be worse if we talk about it. I think there's, again, that's a big misconception that, like, if we talk about mental health, we're gonna make it worse somehow.
[00:28:16] And I think in both of these texts we really see how, in fact, avoidance exacerbates the issue for the person at the center. I just found it to be a very powerful read, and it's one that's really stayed with me. And I think the things I thought it had in common, again, are different because it is a female character.
[00:28:31] She is older, but the similar things are the visceral piece of it. The difficulty with relapse tishow hard it is to get past, and then like the physical struggle with food. I felt like both Schu and Zgheib do a really good job of showing how the mind and body get to a point where they're actually rejecting the most basic.
[00:28:54] skill of fitting, and how once that's happening, that's really hard to fix. So I mean, I just found it to be a really powerful book. It has really stayed with me. And again, that is Yara Zgheib's The Girls at 17 Swann Street.
[00:29:06] Jen: That has been on my list for so long. I really need to take time to read it.
[00:29:11] Ashley: Yeah, that's, it is powerful. I also think, like Schu's, there are a lot of hard things, but it is a really hopeful book despite the statistics, which, again, statistically, unfortunately, eating disorders are very likely to recur. I mean, there's a lot of awareness in the text about how this is something that, like many.
[00:29:29] mental health struggles. Like it is not something you cure, you quote unquote cure. It's something that you learn to manage, and so there's definitely that piece, but I felt like it was a really hopeful book. What about you, Jen? What's your pairing?
[00:29:40] Jen: So I debated for a while. Ultimately, I chose Alice Oseman's Heartstopper, specifically volumes three and four. And I will say I'll talk about Heartstopper in general, BbutI do wanna zoom in on these volumes. So if you don't want spoilers, maybe pause or fast forward a little bit.
[00:29:58] But Heartstopper is about two boys, Nick and Charlie. And in book one, we learned that Charlie has been relentlessly bullied because he came out.
[00:30:10] At the beginning of book one, Nick has not identified his sexuality, but eventually he and Charlie do enter into a relationship, and you see that relationship develop over the course of the series. In volumes three and four, particularly those that focus on Charlie's eating disorder. While we see part of that, from Charlie's perspective, most of it is actually from Nick's point of view.
[00:30:38] And we see his slow realization of what is happening and the ways that he tries to support Charlie and the ways that he struggles with knowing the right thing to do. So a lot of the things, Ashley, that you were saying when you were talking about the girls at 17 Swan Street, we see Charlie go through because he is afraid.
[00:30:58] At times, talk to Charlie about it. He doesn't want to upset him. I think he feels like it's sort of tattling to tell an adult about what he thinks Charlie's going through. And then ultimately, he becomes aware of the seriousness of what he is going through. And so I think seeing that from Charlie's
[00:31:19] partner's perspective is such a powerful point of view to add to this one, which is so much in Jake's own head and in his own point of view. And again, I also think that while there need to be more books about this, when I was thinking through the books I've read about this topic, most of them do focus on women or girls.
[00:31:40] And so to have another offering. This is a graphic novel rather than a novel in verse, but to have another offering centered on a boy, I thought, made it an excellent pairing. So that is Alice Oman's Heartstopper series, but specifically volumes three and four.
[00:31:55] Ashley: Oh, Jen, I love that pairing. There was a quote that really stood out to me from that, and I was trying to make sure that this is right. I might be paraphrasing, but I just remember it was essentially. "Love can't cure a mental illness." And I think so many teens need to hear that. I think so many people need to hear that, but I think it's that awareness that Nick keeps feeling like he should be able to be enough for Charlie.
[00:32:24] Yet we see in the unfolding of this story that, of course, he cannot be enough because just loving someone That's not enough. That is not going to get treatment. And treatment is what Charlie needs to manage it. And so, yeah, I think like that piece really stood out to me and that story because they have such a loving relationship and yet, it's part of the.
[00:32:46] Loving that makes it harder. And in fact, I was looking back, I had written a book review when I read The Girls at 17 Swann Street, and there was a quote from her. She'd been married three years when she went into residential treatment. And there's a quote that said, it said "They had both become two comfortably settled in the magical kingdom of make-believe.
[00:33:05] She may believe that she was happy and all was fine. And he made believe it was true. It was less painful than confrontation." So it kind of goes on from there. And I think like I think that's, it is like, that's why I like books like this. I think they're important for us to read because it reminds us that even when there's discomfort in talking with someone about something you think they might be going through, that like the not talking is really hurtful.
[00:33:30] Even if we're doing it with the best of intentions. And so I feel like, yeah, just like normalizing that these things do happen and that people need help and that sometimes they need help knowing they have a problem. I mean, I think again, we see Jake, who is just adamant that there's nothing wrong, and by the time we see him in those treatment rooms, we as the reader are like, how much more wrong could it be?
[00:33:51] I mean, you are one step from like the E, so I think just seeing that and seeing the tension that we feel as the reader. Against, like watching what's happening to him and then his resistance and how powerful that can be. And again, how strong that voice was by the time he's finally getting help, that like he is completely unable to see the reality of the situation.
[00:34:13] And I think in Heartstopper, we get some of that too. And again, like in a very hopeful and very beautiful and uplifting context, and yet we see how deep this struggle can run. Yeah.
[00:34:24] Jen: All right. Well, how many bookish hearts, Ashley?
[00:34:27] Ashley: Definitely five.
[00:34:28] Jen: Yeah, same. That was such a beautiful text, and
[00:34:31] Ashley: I mean, I'm grateful he wrote it. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. It is like, I'm grateful he wrote it. I loved the author's note, and I felt like he basically says, it's hard to read, and it was hard to experience. And ye,t like this is the story of my heart, you know.
[00:34:45] Jen: Yeah. Yeah. And if you don't know John Schu, I recommend that you check him out. He's part of the nerdy book club that posts less now than they used to, but it was a great resource for teachers and librarians. So. Alright, well, we are going to end with our Unabridged favorites. Ashley, what do you wanna highlight today?
[00:35:01] Ashley: I feel like I've been doing apps lately. I'm gonna do another app that I've really loved. I think I talked about this last, I don't know, sometime I talked about the fact that we've really been enjoying birds in our yard, which is like a new thing for me. I know there are a lot of bird watchers in the world who are very serious about this, but I have always not known different birds and so haven't paid a lot of attention.
[00:35:21] But the Merlin Bird ID app is just amazing. Like it's free, it's beautiful. It's very supportive of helping people connect to birds, and also like helping keep up with, like what birds are in different regions and all of that. So it's also doing a good job of sort of cataloging what we're noticing about birds.
[00:35:42] But anyway, it is free. Just a way of you saying what you saw, or it has recording features, and you can just let it listen,n and it will be like, oh, here are the five birds that it can hear right now, and you can kind of look to see if your birds are matching the thing that is being recommended.
[00:35:58] So I love it. It's been fun to, as somebody who is a complete novice in knowing anything about birds, it's been a fun way to get started. So.
[00:36:07] Jen: That's so great. My brother-in-law is an avid birder, and he really appreciates the app, which is a high recommendation. So.
[00:36:14] Ashley: Oh, there you go. That's what, yes, I should have said birder. That's how much of a novice I am, you know, it's like the whole community is really new to me, but it has been so much fun. I know I've talked before about it, but we have a screen porch now, so we spend a lot more time out in our yard.
[00:36:27] but it's just been really fun and a nice way to connect to nature. What about you, Jen? What's a favorite for you?
[00:36:32] Jen: I am recommending a show today. It's a Netflix show, North of North, and it is a, I would say, a sitcom. It's half-hour episodes. It is. So delightful. It centers on Siaja, who is an Inuk woman living in this very remote village, and she's a mother and a wife and a daughter. Her mother raised her as a single mother and is known for enjoying the company of men.
[00:37:05] That has been said more or less tactfully, depending on who is saying it in the show. Siaja is married to the town hero, who is so egocentric that basically, she is invisible to him. She is really just an extension of his greatness, and at some point, she realizes that that is just not enough, and she decides that she needs to work, and she wants to be outside of his home, and she wants to have an identity.
[00:37:36] That is separate from him, and she makes the decision to leave. And so then the rest of the show is about her trying to establish an identity. She does a lot of things wrong. It's hilarious, but also just really empowering, and you know, the village is horrified that anyone would dare to leave this man who is so perfect, and he could do better, and she should feel grateful.
[00:38:01] Anyway, all through it. The actress who plays ci ia Anna Lambe is just amazing and plays Siaja with great empathy and poignancy. And just moxie. Yeah, she's a great character, so I really loved it.
[00:38:18] So that's North of North, Ashley. I think you would love this show. I think you would love it.
[00:38:24] Ashley: can't wait to watch it. I'm glad you said, because we have watched the trailer a couple of times and just haven't hit play yet. So yes,
[00:38:32] Jen: And it's also only one season goes super fast. So there's something nice about that too, that you know, yeah, you're not taking on a daunting like 20-episode or 20-season show.
[00:38:43] Ashley: Right? Yes. I love that. I'll check it out very soon. I'll report back.
[00:38:47] Jen: Yeah. Alright, everyone, well, thank you so much for listening. We would love to know what you thought of John Schu's Louder Than Hunger.
[00:38:53] You can email us at unabridgedpod@gmail.com or catch us on Instagram @unabridgedpod. Thanks again.
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